Irish Translation Forum

blixt wrote:But, you're not going to learn any Irish by reading pages of threads about Open Office or the Pope in English. It wouldn't make any difference if those things were in Irish.

No-one is saying we should stop speaking English on the translation threads, but only in the OT threads.

But that would exclude every beginner from "normal conversation" in this forum. OT-threads can allow to see into the people who are writing, just to "know" them a bit and to see if you like the character of a forum.

maybelline, I think that OT-threads are great for the bit of banter, in English or Irish!

I would disagree with Blixt, in that there should no way be a frowning upon of disucussions that take place in English in OT threads.

Everyone can join in on the English OT-threads, and those who want to attempt to express themselves in Irish can create/join in on the Irish OT-threads, or Ga-threads as we might call them.

Eoin

Eoin wrote:maybelline, I think that OT-threads are great for the bit of banter, in English or Irish!

I would disagree with Blixt, in that there should no way be a frowning upon of disucussions that take place in English in OT threads.

Everyone can join in on the English OT-threads, and those who want to attempt to express themselves in Irish can create/join in on the Irish OT-threads, or Ga-threads as we might call them.

Eoin

Hi Eoin,

I really didn't want to say all OT-threads should be in English. Although I can't understand a lot of the Gaelic conversation (yet ) I enjoy reading it and try to understand at least a bit. If it is "mixed" with English and Gaelic, I can "guess" a bit of the Gaelic and that helps me to learn

I still think any OT thread should at least have the first post in Irish

Conor wrote:I still think any OT thread should at least have the first post in Irish

So no beginner may start any OT-thread or even understand what it's about?

You could always request a translation

maybelline wrote:

Conor wrote:I still think any OT thread should at least have the first post in Irish

So no beginner may start any OT-thread or even understand what it's about?

Well, starting an OT thread might be a bit difficult (and I would be in the same boat, as many of the topics I might want to start I don't really have enough Irish yet to say much about), but understanding them (or at least getting the gist of what they're saying) just takes a bit of work. Once you've figured out the most common mutations of the words, it's not that hard to work out a word-for-word translation using a dictionary, and that's actually not a bad way to start getting a handle on how the language works.

One thing that mhwombat does that I find very helpful is she provides English definitions for words that one might be less likely to find in a basic dictionary or for phrases that are so idiomatic they wouldn't make sense in English.

Redwolf

It is frustrating for some of us beginners when there's these long posts in Gaelic--not to say that there shouldn't be. But having OT topics in total Irish would be hard to do because even some of the Gaelic speakers don't know how to say everything they want to.

But.....it will help your Irish improve!

You could use Irish words that you know and put the rest in English, or, even better, try your best to write it in Irish and then provide a translation below it. I'm sure someone would be kind enough to give a helping hand if you show an honest effort.


Ní rud éasca é Gaeilge a fhoghlaim agus a úsáid ach ní fheabhfidh tú ar chor ar bith i do shuí...

Learning and using Irish is not easy, but you definately won't make progress by just sitting back